Archeage

Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG, places unique demands on system hardware, often favoring single-threaded CPU performance and raw GPU throughput in large-scale player encounters. The measured data for the Intel Core i5-9400 and Intel Arc B390 combination provides a clear picture of its capabilities across different resolutions and quality presets. This analysis examines the scaling behavior, component roles, and overall standing of this specific pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a significant performance curve that is heavily influenced by the graphics processor. At the "Low" preset, the average frame rate drops from 71 FPS at 1080p to 48 FPS at 1440p, a 32% reduction, and then further down to 28 FPS at 4K, a 61% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the Intel Arc B390 is the primary bottleneck when pixel count increases, as the workload on the GPU's shading units and render output units scales dramatically.

The "Medium" preset shows a similar pattern. The system achieves 64 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 43 FPS at 1440p and then to 25 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K is 39 FPS, or roughly 61%, mirroring the relative drop seen at "Low." This consistency suggests that the GPU's performance scaling is largely linear with resolution, regardless of the specific graphical workload, until the "High" and "Ultra" presets introduce other constraints.

At "High" settings, the 1080p result is 43 FPS, dropping to 29 FPS at 1440p and 17 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is about 60%, which is in line with the other presets. However, the absolute values are much lower, starting from a less comfortable baseline. The "Ultra" preset is the most demanding, with only 29 FPS at 1080p, 20 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K. The scaling here is also steep, but the starting point is so low that the experience is suboptimal even at the lowest resolution tested.

The data suggests that while the CPU handles the game logic and draw calls adequately at lower resolutions, the Arc B390's compute capabilities become the limiting factor as resolution increases. The near-identical percentage drops across presets indicate a purely GPU-bound scenario at higher pixel counts. For a playable experience, users must significantly compromise on resolution or settle for the "Low" preset to maintain frame rates above 60 FPS at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo can achieve?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 71 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the "Low" settings preset.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At the "Low" preset, the average frame rate drops from 71 FPS at 1080p to 28 FPS at 4K. This represents a 43 FPS reduction, or approximately a 60% decrease in performance.

Q: Is the "Ultra" preset playable at any resolution?

A: No. The highest average frame rate at "Ultra" settings is 29 FPS at 1920x1080. At 2560x1440 it drops to 20 FPS, and at 3840x2160 it falls to 11 FPS. These are all below the generally accepted threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Does the Intel Core i5-9400 bottleneck the Intel Arc B390?

A: The data indicates that at lower resolutions like 1080p, the frame rates are higher, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU. However, the steep FPS drops at 4K across all presets imply the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads appear sufficient to avoid being the primary bottleneck in this specific title.

Q: What is the difference in performance between "Low" and "Medium" settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the "Low" preset achieves 71 FPS, while "Medium" achieves 64 FPS. This is a 7 FPS difference, showing that the "Medium" preset offers a modest visual upgrade for a relatively small performance cost.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: For Archeage, this combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2453 out of 2761 tested combos, placing it in the lower percentile of all systems benchmarked.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this hardware combination depend heavily on the user's performance target and display resolution. For a standard 1920x1080 display, the "Low" preset is the only option that consistently delivers an average frame rate above 60 FPS, hitting 71 FPS. The "Medium" preset is also viable, with an average of 64 FPS, and it provides a better balance between visual quality and performance for users who prioritize image fidelity over the absolute highest refresh rate.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more challenging. The "Low" preset yields 48 FPS, which is smooth but not high-refresh. The "Medium" preset drops to 43 FPS, which is still playable for a slower-paced MMO, but the "High" preset falls to 29 FPS, which may feel sluggish. For 4K gaming, no preset offers a fully smooth experience. The "Low" preset provides the highest average at 28 FPS, which is borderline for casual play but not recommended for competitive or highly reactive scenarios.

The "High" and "Ultra" presets are generally not recommended for this hardware. "Ultra" produces unplayable frame rates across all resolutions, with a maximum of 29 FPS at 1080p. "High" is only marginally better, and its performance at 1440p and 4K is too low for a comfortable experience. The most practical approach is to use the "Medium" preset at 1080p for a good visual-to-performance ratio, or "Low" at 1080p to maximize frame rate. If a higher resolution like 1440p is necessary, "Low" is the only sensible choice.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured data provides a detailed view of performance scaling.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the average frame rates are as follows: "Low" preset achieves 28 FPS, "Medium" preset achieves 25 FPS (with a minimum of 21 and maximum of 28), "High" preset achieves 17 FPS, and "Ultra" preset achieves 11 FPS. The variance between "Low" and "Medium" is small, but the drop to "High" and "Ultra" is severe.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the results are: "Low" preset averages 48 FPS, "Medium" averages 43 FPS (with a minimum of 36 and maximum of 49), "High" averages 29 FPS, and "Ultra" averages 20 FPS. The "Low" and "Medium" presets are the only ones that approach playable territory.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the performance is as follows: "Low" preset leads with 71 FPS, followed by "Medium" at 64 FPS (with a minimum of 54 and maximum of 73), "High" at 43 FPS, and "Ultra" at 29 FPS. This resolution provides the only preset ("Low") that breaks the 60 FPS barrier, with "Medium" also achieving a very playable result.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: resolution has a massive impact on this GPU, and settings have a predictable, consistent impact on frame rate. The "Medium" preset consistently provides a significant boost over "High" and "Ultra" while remaining visually distinct from "Low."

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The GPU features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units. It also includes 12 ray tracing cores. The calculated pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, resulting in a theoretical FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS.

A critical aspect of this GPU is its memory configuration. It uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it relies on the system's main DDR4 RAM instead of dedicated VRAM. The memory bus width and bandwidth are listed as "System Shared" and "System Dependent," respectively. For a game like Archeage, which has been updated over the years with higher-resolution textures, this reliance on shared memory can be a significant bottleneck. The GPU must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth, which can cause stuttering and lower average frame rates, especially at higher resolutions where the demand for texture data increases.

The benchmark data supports this analysis. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1482, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is a very low score, confirming its entry-level performance class. Its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and GeForce GT 710, have similar scores. The measured FPS in Archeage reflects this low standing; the GPU is simply not equipped for high-fidelity gaming at high resolutions. The 4K results, which are all below 30 FPS, and the inability to maintain 60 FPS at any setting above "Low" at 1080p are direct consequences of its limited compute power and shared memory architecture.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a desktop processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It offers 6 cores and 6 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. The processor supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a theoretical memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. It has a 9 MB shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 6629 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 points in single-core, indicating solid mid-range performance.

In the context of Archeage, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, AI, and the rendering draw calls. The 6 cores and 6 threads are adequate for an MMORPG, which often has many background tasks but is not as heavily threaded as modern AAA shooters. The single-core performance, evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 935, is crucial for the main game thread. The boost clock of 4.10 GHz is beneficial in this regard.

The measured FPS data suggests that the i5-9400 is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p "Low," the system hits 71 FPS, which is a reasonable result, but the frame rate drops significantly as resolution increases, even with the same settings. This indicates that the GPU is unable to keep up with the increased pixel workload. However, the CPU's performance headroom can be inferred from the fact that the frame rate scales down with resolution. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain flat regardless of resolution. The fact that the FPS drops from 71 at 1080p to 48 at 1440p on "Low" clearly points to the GPU as the limiting component. The CPU's average benchmark score of 2254 places it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, suggesting it provides a baseline level of performance that is sufficient for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Archeage, the pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 with the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2453 out of 2761 total combos. This places it in the 11th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that it is a below-average performer for this specific game.

This low rank is consistent with the individual component benchmarks. The GPU is in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 47th percentile. The combination of a mid-range CPU with a very low-end GPU creates a system that is heavily skewed towards CPU performance. In a game like Archeage, which is not extremely demanding on the CPU, this results in a system that is held back by its graphics solution.

The measured FPS data confirms this ranking. With average frame rates struggling to reach 60 FPS at 1080p on the "Low" preset and falling to single digits at 4K on "Ultra," the system's performance is far from competitive. While the CPU provides a stable foundation, the GPU's inability to process graphical data efficiently ensures that the overall experience is poor. Users with this combo will need to make significant sacrifices in visual quality and resolution to achieve a playable frame rate, positioning it firmly at the lower end of the performance spectrum for this title.